Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Changing Patterns of Return Migration from the USA to Mexico and Their Policy Implications

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Migration in an Era of Restriction and Recession

Part of the book series: Immigrants and Minorities, Politics and Policy ((IMPP))

Abstract

This chapter examines changes in the characteristics of contemporary return migration to Mexico in a period dominated by tighter border controls and rising levels of involuntary, and therefore unplanned, return migration. We use the complete set of individual and household records of the 2005 Population Count of Mexico to establish a reliable benchmark against which to compare previous and subsequent migration patterns observed in the Mexican censuses and counts of 1995 and 2000 and, to a more limited extent, the 2010 Mexican Census. Our data suggest that individuals returning to Mexico today are choosing a different set of destination locales than in the past, in which returnees primarily returned to small rural communities in the Center-West of Mexico. In particular, they are now increasingly attracted to border cities, prosperous small towns, and growing metropolitan areas in Mexico. These attractive destinations for return appear to be less dependent on prior patterns of out-migration than on emerging patterns of economic opportunity within Mexico.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The return migration rate can only be calculated at the state level and by type of locality in terms of its population size because of the sampling limitations of the 10 percent sample of the 2000 Census.

  2. 2.

    Most of those removed without an order of removal are apprehended by the US Border Patrol, so these figures may overestimate the number of people by counting the several attempts of one person to cross. Note, however, that no information is gathered about the time the deportee spent in the USA and whether or not they were deported previously.

  3. 3.

    Intercensal returnees are those living in the USA 5 years previous to the Count or Census and now back in Mexico.

  4. 4.

    Approximately 50 detailed interviews were done by researchers from CIESAS del Occidente (Elizabeth Perez and, Daniela Jiménez), the Colegio de Michoacan (Marcelo Zamora), and the University of Texas at Austin (Josh Greene).

  5. 5.

    In 2005, there were 5471 five-year-old returnees, 4695 six-year-old returnees, and 4209 seven-year-old returnees. Children 10 years and under make up only 9 percent of the returnees.

  6. 6.

    The Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) most often provides social security for people employed in the formal sector. Other providers of public social security are the Institute of Social Security for Workers of the State (ISSSTE), Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), and the Mexican ministries of Defense or Navy, whereas private social security paid by individuals may be from Seguro Popular or another private institution. In some cases, children or other family members may receive social security as a beneficiary from the insurance of their parents or siblings. Additionally, individuals may receive social security from more than one source.

  7. 7.

    Publications from INEGI report a total number of 267,150 returnees for 2000 and give the totals by state and size of locality. However, the weighted data from the 10 percent sample of the 2000 Population Census provides an estimation of 260,650 returnees because it does not include all the localities.

  8. 8.

    In the calculation of the rate of return, we exclude those migrants who left for the USA before 2000 from the denominator. Also, a lagged effect should be noted, since the returnees counted in the 2005 Count may come from older migration waves; in addition, the period division is somewhat arbitrary.

  9. 9.

    This result is even stronger if we remember that out-migration from traditional states was very high in the past.

References

  • Arias, Patricia. 2009. Del arraigo a la diáspora: dilemas de la familia rural. Guadalajara, México: Universidad de Guadalajara.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alarcón, R. 1992. Norteñización: Self-perpetuating migration from a Mexican town. In U.S.-Mexico relations: Labour market interdependence, ed. J. Bustamante, R.A. Hinojosa, and C. Reynolds, 302–318. San Francisco: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., and S. Gent. 2004. Defining, measuring and influencing sustainable return: The case of the Balkans. Sussex, England: Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borjas, G.J., and B. Bratsberg. 1996. Who leaves? The outmigration of the foreign-born. The Review of Economics and Statistics 78(1): 165–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Y., and Y. Haberfeld. 2001. Self-selection and return migration: Israeli-born Jews returning home from the United States during the 1980s. Population Studies 55(1): 79–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius, W.A. 2008. Introducción. Disuade el Control Fronterizo la Inmigración Documentada? In Los Impactos del Control Fronterizo Sobre la Migración Mexicana: Perspectivas desde las Comunidades de Origen, ed. W.A. Cornelius and J.M. Lewis, 13–30. Ciudad de México: Publicaciones de la Casa Chata/ CIESAS, CCIS, CIESAS-Occidente.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donato, K.M., C. Tolbert, A. Nucci, and Y. Kawano. 2008. Changing faces, changing places: The emergence of new nonmetropolitan immigrant gateways. In New faces in new places: The changing geography of American immigration, ed. D. Massey. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durand, J., D. Massey, and R. Zenteno. 2001. Mexican immigration to the United States: Continuities and changes [Report]. Latin American Research Review 36(1): 107–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar, A. 2008a. Mexican policy and Mexico-U.S. migration. In Mexico-U.S. migration management: A binational approach, ed. A. Escobar and S. Martin. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2008b. Pobreza y Migración Internacional en el México Rural: un Enfoque Antropológico. In Pobreza y Migración Internacional, ed. A. Escobar, 9–38. Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escobar, Agustin, Mercedes Gonzalez, and Bryan Roberts. 1987. Migration, labour markets and the international economy: Jalisco, Mexico and the United States. In Migrants, workers, and the social order, ed. J. Eades, 42–64. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes, J., H. L’Esperance, R. Perez, and C. White. 2008. Impactos de las Políticas Migratorias Estadounidenses sobre la Conducta Migratoria. In Los Impactos del Control Fronterizo Sobre la Migración Mexicana: Perspectivas desde las Comunidades de Origen, ed. W.A. Cornelius and J.M. Lewis, 71–94. Ciudad de México: Publicaciones de la Casa Chata/CIESAS, CCIS and CIESAS-Occidente.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fussell, E. 2004a. Sources of Mexico’s migration stream: Rural, urban and border migrants to the United States. Social Forces 82(3): 937–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2004b. Tijuana’s place in the Mexican migration stream: Destination for internal migrants or stepping stone to the United States? In Crossing the border: Research from the Mexican migration project, ed. J. Durand and D. Massey. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gitter, S., R. Gitter, and D. Southgate. 2008. The impact of return migration to Mexico. Estudios Económicos 23(1): 3–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, J. 2016. From Mexico to Hawaii: Tracing the migration history of one family in Sabinilla, Jalisco. In Deportation and return in a border-restricted world: Experiences in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, ed. B. Roberts, N. Rodriguez, and C. Menjivar. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez Najera, L. 2007. Yalalag is no longer Yalalag: Circulating conflict and contesting community in a Zapotec transnational circuit. Unpublished Dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J., K. Eschbach, and N. Rodríguez. 2008. U.S. deportation policy, family separation, and circular migration. International Migration Review 42(1): 64–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, J.M., R. Hernandez-Leon, and J.-J. Demonsant. 2015. Skills of the “Unskilled”: Work and mobility among Mexican migrants. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, E., and A. Escobar. 2008. Remesas y Costo de Oportunidad. El Caso Mexicano. In Pobreza y Migración Internacional, ed. A. Escobar, 245–264. Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandel, W., and D. Massey. 2002. The culture of Mexican migration: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Social Forces 80(3): 981–1004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lam, K.-C. 1986. Imperfect information, specificity of schooling and rate of return migration. Economics Letters 21: 283–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ————. 1994. Outmigration of foreign-born members in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'Economique 27(2): 352–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leach, M.A., and F.D. Bean. 2008. The structure and dynamics of Mexican migration to new destinations in the United States. In New faces in new places: The changing geography of American immigration, ed. D. Massey. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leite, P., and A. Prieto. 2006. Migración Internacional en México: Balance y Retos Políticos. In La Situación Demográfica de México, ed. Consejo Nacional de Población, 149–165. Mexico City: CONAPO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindstrom, D. 1996. Economic opportunity in Mexico and return migration from the United States. Demography 33(3): 357–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowell, L., C. Pederzini, and J.S. Passel. 2008. The demography of Mexico-U.S. migration. In Mexico-U.S. migration management: A binational approach, ed. A. Escobar and S. Martin. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, S. 2008. Politics of U.S. immigration reform. In Mexico-U.S. migration management, ed. A. Escobar and S. Martin, 125–144. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masferrer, C. 2012. Cuando el origen no es destino: ciclo de vida y el retorno como posibles vínculos entre la migración interna e internacional. Coyuntura Demográfica 2: 45–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2015. De regreso a otro lugar: La relación entre la migración interna y de retorno en 2005. In Análisis espacial de las remesas, migración de retorno y crecimiento regional en México, ed. M. Valdivia López and F. Lozano Ascencio. Mexico, Mexico: CRIM-UNAM and Plaza y Valdés Editores.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masferrer, C., and B.R. Roberts. 2012. Going back home? Changing demography and geography of Mexican return migration. Population Research and Policy Review 31(4): 465–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. 1990. Social structure, household strategies, and the cumulative causation of migration. Population Index 56: 3–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ————. 1999. Why does immigration occur? A theoretical synthesis. In The handbook of international migration. The American experience, ed. C. Hirschman, P. Kasinitz, and J. DeWind, 21–52. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2005a. Backfire at the border. Why enforcement without legalization cannot stop illegal immigration. Washington, DC: Center for Trade Policy Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2005b. Five myths about immigration: Common misconceptions underlying U.S. border enforcement policy. Washingont, D.C.: Immigration Policy Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D., J. Durand, and N.J. Malone. 2003. Beyond smoke and mirrors. Mexican immigration in an era of economic integration. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D., J. Durand, and F. Riosmena. 2006. Capital Social, Política Social y Migración desde Comunidades Tradicionales y Nuevas Comunidades de Origen en México. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociales 116: 97–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D., and R. Zenteno. 1999. The dynamics of mass migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 96(9): 5328–5335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medina, D., and C. Menjívar. 2015. The context of return migration: Challenges of mixed-status families in Mexico’s schools. Ethnic and Racial Studies 38(12): 2123–2139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pavit, K. 1997. Cohort and period effects in U.S. migration: How demographic and economic cycles influence the migration schedule. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87(3): 439–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quintana Romero, L., and J.F. Pérez. 2014. Migración de retorno en México: un enfoque de aglomeraciones desde la Nueva Geografía Económica. In: Valdivia López M, Lozano Ascencio F (eds) Análisis espacial de las remesas, migración de retorno y crecimiento regional en México. CRIM-UNAM and Plaza y Valdés Editores, Mexico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riosmena, F. 2004. Return versus settlement among undocumented Mexican migrants, 1980 to 1996. In Crossing the border. Research from the Mexican migration project, ed. J. Durand and D. Massey, 265–280. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B. 1995. Socially expected durations and the economic adjustment of immigrants. In The economic sociology of immigration: Essays on networks, ethnicity, and entrepreneurship, ed. A. Portes. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • ————. 2016. Migration times and ethnic identity: Mexican migration to the United States over three generations. In Deportation and return in a border-restricted world: Experiences in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, ed. B. Roberts, N. Rodriguez, and C. Menjivar. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B., R. Frank, and F. Lozano-Asencio. 1999. Transnational migrant communities and Mexican migration to the US. Ethnic and Racial Studies 22(2): 238–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, B., and E. Hamilton. 2007. La Nueva Geografía de la Emigración: Zonas Emergentes de Atracción y Expulsión, Continuidad y Cambio. In El País Transnacional: Migración Mexicana y Cambio Social a Través de la Frontera, ed. M. Ariza and A. Portes. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruben, R., M. van Houte, and T. Davids. 2009. What determines the embeddedness of forces-return migrants? Rethinking the role of pre- and post- return assistance. International Migration Review 43(4): 908–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R.C. 2006. Mexican New York. Transnational lives of new immigrants. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuirán, R., C. Fuentes, and J.L. Ávila. 2002. Índice de Intensidad Migratoria México-Estados Unidos 2000. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional de Población.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2009. Yearbook of immigration statistics: 2010. Washington, DC: Office of Immigration Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2011. Yearbook of immigration statistics: 2010.Washington, DC: Office of Immigration Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Programme. 2007. Informe sobre Desarrollo Humano México 2006–2007. Migración y Desarrollo Humano. Mexico City: Mundi-Prensa, UNDP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheatley, C. 2016. Driven “Home”: Stories of voluntary and involuntary reasons for return among migrants in Jalisco and Oaxaca, Mexico. In Deportation and return in a border-restricted world: Experiences in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, ed. B. Roberts, N. Rodriguez, and C. Menjivar. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zenteno, R. 2008. Pobreza, Marginación y Migración Mexicana a Estados Unidos. In Pobreza y migración internacional, ed. A. Escobar, 85–130. Mexico City: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zúñiga, V., and E.T. Hamann. 2014. Going to a home you have never been to: The return migration of Mexican and American-Mexican children. Children’s Geographies: 1–13 (ahead-of-print).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Estudios Demográficos, Urbanos y Ambientales, El Colegio de México, Mexico City, DF, Mexico

    Claudia Masferrer

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Bryan R. Roberts

Authors
  1. Claudia Masferrer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bryan R. Roberts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia Masferrer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    David L. Leal

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin, AUSTIN, Texas, USA

    Nestor P. Rodríguez

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Masferrer, C., Roberts, B.R. (2016). The Changing Patterns of Return Migration from the USA to Mexico and Their Policy Implications. In: Leal, D., Rodríguez, N. (eds) Migration in an Era of Restriction and Recession. Immigrants and Minorities, Politics and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24445-7_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation